Human rights activist Wilson had claimed that evidence from his laptop was planted

In 2018, police had termed him as one of the “active members” of the banned CPI (Maoist), who allegedly organised the Elgaar Parishad meeting on December 31, 2017.

The Pune Police, which was initially investigating the case before the NIA took over, had claimed that speeches and songs during the said meeting  “provoked the masses” and “aggravated violence” at Koregaon Bhima on January 1, 2018.

Before he was arrested in June, 2018, Wilson, who originally belonged to Kerala, was based in Delhi as the public relations secretary of the Committee for Release of Political Prisoners (CRPP). He had also campaigned against Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA). Wilson was arrested under offences punishable under UAPA among others in the Elgaar case.

Wilson was considered a close aide of Delhi University professor GN Saibaba, who was arrested in May 2014 for alleged Maoist links. Seven months after he was acquitted by the Bombay High Court, GN Saibaba passed away in October, 2024.

As per Pune Police, after Saibaba’s conviction in 2014 by a Gadchiroli court, Wilson had allegedly taken over  his task of “co-ordinating” between Left wing extremist outfits in urban and jungle areas of the country and also the international network.

In its chargesheet, the Pune Police had stated that Wilson, along with other underground operatives, had hatched a conspiracy to kill the Prime Minister of India and indulged in procurement of arms and ammunition for a “large conspiracy” of waging a war against “the democratic system and Indian citizens”.

The prosecution had claimed that a letter between Wilson and one Ritupan Goswami revealed that the co-accused Mahesh Raut, an “active member” of CPI (Maoist) had recruited two students from Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, into the banned group and had sent them for training in the jungles.

In 2021, Wilson moved the Bombay HC, seeking quashing of the case against him by citing  in support the report of a US-based digital consultant that says “incriminating evidence” found by investigators in his laptop were “planted”.

Wilson had referred to a report by Arsenal Consulting, a US-based digital forensics consulting company, which concluded that his computer was “infected with a malware”, allegedly planted through an email on June 13, 2016, two years before his arrest. However, the HC had said that the said contentions can be raised during the trial in the case.

In 2023, while granting bail to Raut, the HC had prima facie said there was no evidence on record of recruitment by Raut and said that his communications seized from computers of co-accused were “in the nature of hearsay”.

Even in the present plea on which the HC passed an order on Wednesday, Wilson had sought quashing of chargesheet, citing “planted electronic evidence”. However, the bench refused to go into merits of the case and granted bail, noting that the trial in the case is unlikely to commence/conclude in the near future.